Poultry spur protector



Sept. 20, 1966 G. FUENTES POULTRY SPUR PROTECTOR Original Filed May 4,1964 United States Patent 4 Claims. (Cl. 119-144 This application is adivisional application of application Serial No. 364,601, filed May 4,1964.

This invention relates to the protection and/or arming of poultry andinvolves the manufacture of prosthetic devices therefor, the fitting andinstallation of such devices, and means to temporarily neutralize saiddevices under certain circumstances. More particularly, this inventionrelates to the manufacture of novel prosthetic spurs for poultry,especially chickens, unique means for easily measuring the fowl wherebyit can be fitted with the proper sized prosthetic spurs, to means forsecuring each spur to the fowl and to means for temporarily shieldingthese spurs to permit practice bouts or to neutralize the aggressivetendencies of such fowl during periods of socialization.

Poultry, especially chickens, and particularly roosters, normally grow ahorny, spine-like growth on the back side of the leg which is called aspur. The chicken uses the spur for purposes of defense and offense. Forexample, in the barnyard, the chicken must defend himself against otheraggressive chickens. He must also assert himself to obtain a certainstature within the social society of his fellow chickens. The reader isprobably aware of the pecking-order within the poultry society. Toaccomplish such stature, the chicken uses both his beak and his spurs onthe back side of his legs. With respect to the latter, he flies orswoops slightly up off the ground and beats or fiails his legs at hisopponent with the spurs pointed inwardly so as to drive the opponent offor subdue him. This is a natural defensive and offensive trait in allpoultry.

This natural tendency has been commercialized by human beings for manyyears. It is more commonly known as cock-fighting. While many stateshave outlawed the sport, there are still some states, teritories andpossessions of the United States and foreign countries where such sportis extremely popular and is a major source of revenue. The inventionhere has great utility for such sport and, indeed, minimizes theoccasional cruel and inhuman result of broken natural spurs during acontest.

In raising prize cocks for agricultural show purposes, there isoccasional need to provide the cock with a defensive means so that hecan defend himself against other competing cocks who may suddenlyacquire an aggressive mood. Furthermore, there are instances in thebarnyard where several cocks are needed for stud purposes. It becomesimportant then to arm them or disarm them completely so that there willbe no domineering cock.

Heretofore, replacement prosthetic spurs were derived from natural spurstaken from supply roosters. Naturally, the supply rooster had to bedestroyed so that the spur could be cut from his leg. This was obviouslyundesirable unless, of course, there was a supply available from a localpoultry slaughtering house.

In such prior art technique, the individual spur, after being cut fromthe rooster, was cleaned, and the soft tissue at the base of the spurwas removed to leave a hollow space. This hollow space was fitted uponthe stud or stump of the rooster being fitted with the substitute spur.

Such a naturally derived spur was only brought to the desired shape by along drawn-out procedure which required considerable hand skill andtime. This added a great deal to its cost. Furthermore, since the spurwas naturally derived, it varied widely in quality and in size. Thus,the rooster fancier not only had to hunt around for a suitable supply,but also had to match the spur obtained to fit it to his rooster.Frequently, he had to make-do by resorting to defective or poorly fittedspurs with consequent imminent danger to his prize rooster.

An object of this invention is to provide a more uniform synthetic spurfor poultry.

Another object is to provide a means for shielding each prosthetic spurafter it is fitted to provide for neutralization of the fowls normalaggressive tendencies at that particular instance.

FIG. 1 is a pictorial view of a shield or protective glove forneutralizing the prosthetic spur.

FIG. 2 is a top view of the shield or glove when it is laid flat.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the shield.

Occasionally, a situation arises which necessitates neutralizing thespur fitted on the rooster. To accomplish this end, a protective glove38 is fitted over the spur. FIGS. 1 to 3 illustrate such a protectiveglove. It consists of a fiat elongated web or strap 40 of leather,cloth, plastic sheet, and the like. It has an orifice 42 therein whichis covered by a ball 44. The ball may be hollow or may be made ofsponge, either actual or synthetic, so that the prosthetic spur can bepushed into the ball 44. The tail 46 of the strap 40 has one portion 48of a fastener, such as a snap, or a sliding buckle fastener securedthereto. The other portion 50 of the fastener is afiixed to the othertail so that when strap 40 is wrapped around leg 14 of the fowl (FIG. 1)the glove can be immediately secured thereto by merely securing the twoportions 48 and 50 of the fastener together.

In use, the glove is very effective. It is easily and quickly attached.And its structure insures that ball 44 will not fall off the spur. Evensharp blows are not effective to knock it off. Thus, the rooster cansafely practice or be given free reign without fear of his attackingother more docile species of the flock.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those madeapparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained, andsince certain changes may be made in carrying out the above process, inthe described product, and in the constructions set forth withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention, it is intended that allmatter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanyingdrawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limitingsense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended tocover all of the generic and specific features of the invention hereindescribed, and all statements of the scope of the invention, which, as:a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Now that the invention has been described, what is claimed as new anddesired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A protective glove for poultry having spurs on its legs comprising anelongated strap with centrally located orifice therein, a spur receivingand enclosing protective shield member afiixed to said strap over saidorifice capable of receiving said spur when said orifice is placed 3 4over said spur and means on said strap to secure it to References Citedby the Examiner g g saizi q lgf 1 1 h t UNITED STATES PATENTS e I'O eC1V6 OVC O C alIl'l W ereln sa1 I'O ective shield member ii a ballaflixed to said strap. p 3 gfi 'g "I 3. The protective glove of claim 1wherein said means 5 on said strap to secure it to said leg of saidpoultry com- FOREIGN PATENTS prise a snap-fastener. 1,392 11/ 1890 GreatBritain.

4. The protective glove of claim 1 wherein said strap has a length atleast equal to the circumference of said SAMUEL N, Pl'zmary Examzner.leg of said poultry. m A. F. MEDBERY, Assistann Examiner.

1. A PROTECTIVE GLOVE FOR POULTRY HAVING SPURS ON ITS LEGS COMPRISING ANELONGATED STRAP WITH CENTRALLY LOCATED ORIFICE THEREIN, A SPUR RECEIVINGAND ENCLOSING PROTECTIVE SHIELD MEMBER AFFIXED TO SAID STRAP OVER SAIDORIFICE CAPABLE OF RECEIVING SAID SPUR WHEN SAID ORIFICE IS PLACED OVERSAID SPUR AND MEANS ON SAID STRAP TO SECURE IT TO SAID LEG OF SAIDPOULTRY.